


Electric Dreams

by vaderina



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Anti Robot Violence, Discrimination, F/M, M/M, Robophobia, Robot AU, Robot Repairs, Robot/Human Relationships, Robot/Robot Relationship, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-24
Updated: 2018-04-24
Packaged: 2019-04-27 09:01:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14422011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vaderina/pseuds/vaderina
Summary: A robot is a commodity, it doesn't feel, it doesn't dream, it doesn't have hopes. It exists purely to make life easier for humanity. America has banned robots without paperwork, shut down robot repairs. Any robot that has outlived its function will be submitted for dismantling. A robot without a keeper is also a danger to society and to be destroyed.





	Electric Dreams

The steam ship was running late and the crowds at customs were thronging. Newt clutched his case closer to himself in the masses. He had his papers; his case had the protective locks to help fool those who didn’t need to know what he did. What he was. America was a stupid place for him to visit, especially on his own but Frank needed to go home and he was going to make sure his charge got there safely. Of course his case had to pop a lock open at the customs desk and Newt swallowed hard – a nervous habit he’d picked up from Theseus over the years. It also helped him blend in as more human which was an advantage in that moment. Thankfully the mechanics of his case held up to scrutiny, his expanded world was safe from prying eyes and after a scrutinising look which he returned with a curious stare, head tipped to the side like a confused puppy he was allowed through into America unescorted.

He shouldn’t have stopped at the bank. Net cursed himself when intrigue about the Second Salemers drew him into the crowd rather than on and along his journey. Theseus would have laughed at him Newt thought. His mind drifted until he noticed the niffler making its way into the bank. One of his charges was making a dishonest bid for freedom and Newt had to act, get his little pest back before he caused any trouble.

It was wishful thinking when Newt collided with a portly man who wanted a loan for a bakery. For some unfathomable reason Jacob could tell Newt wasn’t a robot despite Newt’s best efforts to blend in. Thankfully he was a sympathiser and merrily went his way, his own case in hand. Unfortunately for Newt he was detained by MACUSA and while he had all his papers in order he still felt a certain reluctance to be taken in. Theseus had warned him to keep a low profile. A small smile ticked up Newt’s lip as he thought about Theseus. It used to be him worrying about his little boy but now his little boy was all grown up and worrying about Newt instead.

“Where’s your keeper?” The auror hissed at him. She looked stressed and concerned but Newt had a feeling that the concern wasn’t towards him. “You can’t be seen without your keeper in public.”

“I’ve got all my papers.” Newt said and he hunched a little over his case. Nobody needed to know that while the papers for himself were all in order his case was a whole different matter.

“I’m going to have to take you in. Until your keeper claims you at least. And please tell me that the other man who I saw you with doesn’t know about what you are.”

Newt glanced away, he still hadn’t mastered the art of lying but he hoped that lying by omission was going to be enough in this instance. Sadly the auror could read him all too clearly and she gave out a wailing hiss of distress which made Newt want to comfort her. Before he could they whisked away to the Woolworths Building. Newt marvelled at the architecture as he was marched through, the arresting officer – Tina – dragged him through the halls and past so many people. Some were obviously robots, there to take the strain of the mundane jobs.  Cleaning, taking coffee orders to meetings, and operating the elevator. Newt tried to smile and acknowledge them all but none of them really responded.

Things only went downhill from there. He and Tina were dismissed from the meeting they interrupted; Newt’s papers were looked over and deemed sufficient enough to not have him immediately dismantled. However the case he’d been clutching onto and worrying about its different weight since the bank wasn’t his. The cheery chap from the bank must have grabbed the wrong one in his haste to distance himself from Newt. It was a disaster and Newt knew he had to find his case and his wards as soon as possible.  Thankfully Tina seemed to have relaxed a little and together they tracked down the man with Newt’s case. Jacob seemed quite entertained by everything despite looking a little worse for wear. Naturally Tina insisted he accompany them as a witness, something they would have to go in for the next day. Until then she kindly offered them her home as a custodial suite. They had to tiptoe through the building which declared very visibly in several places that unaccompanied and hired service robots were unwelcome. Domestic robots were allowed on a case by case basis but their possession was not encouraged. It filled Newt with despair though he tried not to show it, the idea of companion robots without a single ownership agreement being hunted down and destroyed solely because they were deemed a waste of resources and a threat to the functioning of society.

“Do you even know anything about American law?” Tina had cried at him while they searched for Jacob.

“I know enough. You aren’t allowed to have unaccompanied robots in society, you aren’t allowed to repair malfunctioning units and rather barbarically you hunt them down, sometimes for sport all in the name of the law. Very backwards if you ask me.”

“Well, I didn’t ask you.” Tina had ended the conversation there but obviously Newt had hit on a sore topic.

The apartment they were ushered into seemed homely.

“Teenie, you didn’t tell me you were bringing guests.” A cheerful half-dressed blonde cooed. Newt glanced at her, took in her lack of shame at being so underdressed, her bright disposition and general attitude towards strangers in her home. A robot, companion class. Newt raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything.

“Newt, Jacob, this is my sister Queenie.”

“I’m not familiar with the Queenie designation.” Newt offered as a greeting. Queenie peered at him before she smiled wide.

“Oh honey, I’m a Quintessentially Unique Evening Experience Natural In Everything. What about you?”

“Nanny Extraordinaire With Training On Nurturing – Newton, but Theseus used to call me Nootnoot then Newt as he grew up, I guess it kind of stuck.”

With all that out of the way it was quite a pleasant evening, Jacob proved to be a delight as he was charmed by Queenie. It was strange, hearing how Queenie was brought in as a maternal replacement for when Tina’s mother died. He father didn’t want to marry again so he turned to robotics. When he died Tina had just turned 18 so she took over as registered keeper for Queenie and had been introducing her as her sister ever since.

In turn Newt haltingly told them a little about helping raise Theseus for a well to do family and how robot laws were so different back home. His voice turned fond when he spoke of the freedom Theseus had granted him, along with protection by letting Newt keep his name even though he was beyond use now. An old model, one that not many people wanted but Theseus had grown to love him like a brother. Even allowed him to modify his subroutines a little so the care he extended didn’t only to Theseus but other creatures. Newt had a newfound compassion and camaraderie with mechanical and magical creatures. It was something Theseus encouraged and helped set up his case, made out permits and tried to give Newt as much freedom as possible. Even when Newt was determined to return Frank to Arizona, Theseus didn’t forbid him, rather he helped make the journey as easy and smooth as possible. It was just a shame that the niffler didn’t have the same ideas and morals as Newt.

The next day they returned to MACUSA, Jacob in tow as Tina’s key witness. Director Graves took exception to the case and decided to rule it himself. Jacob was reprimanded and fined for not doing his duty in reporting a rogue robot and Newt narrowly missed being dismantled, only saved by Theseus’ meticulous preparation for the worst. Still he was instructed to remain in Tina’s custody until Theseus could lay official claim to him. Newt looked miserable in the cell they’d stuck him in while Tina worked.

“You need to stop pretending to be upset Newton.” Director Graves had sneered at him. “For robots do not feel, they do not dream. They’re commodities not individuals with rights. Your cutesy feeling shtick won’t fool anybody here.”

Newt frowned but didn’t say anything. His gaze followed Director Graves out the holding area, eyes sharp through his fringe. That evening Tina came to collect him. Social niceties had never been Newt’s strong point, no matter how many years and new subroutines had been installed for him.

“The man who is calling himself Director Graves is not Percival Graves.”

Tina stilled and stared at him with disbelief. She shook her head and let him out of the cell, his case was still with Director Graves.

“That’s absurd. Don’t let anyone hear you say that or you may just end up the victim of an accident that you can’t be reassembled form.”

“I’m serious Tina. Please. Let me prove it.”

Proof turned out to be easier to get than anticipated. The disturbances throughout New York all linked back to him. When Tina, backed up by a group of aurors approached him in his office, the Director was nowhere to be found. However Newt’s case was wide open, the niffler was helping himself to trinkets in the cupboards with happy little snuffles. As a group they descended into the case, Newt lead at the point. They walked through in utter amazement, how both magical and mechanical creatures seemed to seamlessly cohabit. Their wonder was cut short when they got to the tundra habitat where Director Graves was staring at the swirling black mass of an obscurus. Someone in the group gasped which drew his attention.

“Step away from her.” Newt’s voice was firm and flat with anger.

“I don’t take instructions from a robot.” Director Graves sneered. “Especially not from one with an illegal nundu and crup.”

People murmured and Tina elbowed Newt.

“Really?”

“They’re not dangerous.”

“A nundu, Newt, really?” Director Graves turned back to the obscurus.

“Not to mention this. Imagine what it could do if set loose. Is that why you came here Newton? To ruin America?”

The obscurus shifter relentlessly in its bubble, agitated by all the people crowding the habitat. At a loss to what to do, Newt let out two sharp whistles. Within moments the air behind them shifted and the mechanical nundu lumbered to him. By his ankle the crup yapped a grating of cogs.

“Restrain and escort.” Newt ordered and watched as his creatures advanced on Director Graves. All the commotion meant nobody noticed him cast a soft “revelio” and the mask of Director Graves melted from Grindelwald’s face.

“Restrain and guard.” Newt snapped when nobody dared move.

“A Companion and Remote Unit for Protection along with a malfunctioning Newly Upgraded Nonlethal Defence Unit which proved to be quite a bit more lethal than the name suggests won’t be able to hold me.”

“No, but the aurors can.” The voice that piped up from the back of the group had the aurors parting to let her through. Picquery looked down at Grindelwald with contempt.

“Ah, Madame President. What a delight. You’ll never guess what treasures I have in store for you.” Grindelwald refused to elaborate but laughed increasingly manically when pressed for information on the whereabouts of the real Percival Graves.

The calamity that followed was awful. Newt was bundled back into his cell, his case confiscated. There were threats of destroying the Nundu and the Crup along with all his other creatures. The Obscurus was another problem altogether and no matter how much Newt begged them not to do anything he didn’t know if she was still alive or not. There was an uproar when Theseus arrived full of indignant rage and fury. He flashed his status (and his wealth no doubt) and Newt was released, his case returned to him with all his creatures unharmed.

“We need you to remove your robot and that case from America immediately General Scamander.” Picquery told Theseus in no uncertain terms. Newt stood behind his brother and clutched at his case. From his vantage point he could just about see the nasty sneer that took over Theseus’ face.

“With all due respect, I believe I have a permit to stay for up to four weeks Madame President. And I intend to make full use of my holiday with my brother.”

“Your brother?” Picquery sounded disbelieving, slightly scornful. Newt looked younger than Theseus now, long gone were the days where Newt could play older brother. “I’m sorry, but I cannot allow that case and your robot to stay in the country. Both will be destroyed for harbouring and Obscurus.”

“Newt?” Theseus glanced over his shoulder, his grin hadn’t lessened. “You’ve had a chance to observe some of the damage wrought on this city that has left the whole of MACUSA stumped, right?”

“Yes.” Newt didn’t know where his brother was going but he was right, he did have a chance to glance at the havoc left behind.

“What do you think it is?”

“Don’t be absurd General Scamander. That’s the result of a dark magical creature that my Department of Security will deal with.”

“It’s an Obscurus.” Newt’s voice was soft, barely heard over Picquery’s anger but it brought the room to an eerie silence.

“Don’t be ridiculous. There hasn’t been an Obscurus in America in decades. Not since the anti-robot laws were brought in.” Picquery denied vehemently.

“It’s a robot’s soul without a body. Lost and trying to reform. The one in my case was much the same in Sudan. It could sometimes manifest a body but the energy it took to do that meant it flew apart, lost and angry at being so lonely. I could help.”

The knowing look Theseus shot Newt spoke volumes of what he thought. At least that also detracted from the fact Newt had cast a spell against Grindelwald. Neither of them wanted to think about the consequences should it be discovered that a mere robot could use magic.

Things moved quickly on from there. Theseus hashed out a deal with Picquery pertaining to MACUSA’s loan of Newt. Both he and his creatures were given political immunity as longs as they stayed within the confines of the law. Tina was allowed to assume temporary keepership of Newt and Theseus returned to England after ensuring Newt was okay.

Tracking down the Obscurus was difficult. There was no electrical signal that could be traced, not hint at their origin either. Before Theseus had left he’d asked Newt to try and find Percival Graves too. His friend was out there somewhere and even if it was just a body Newt found, at least he could be laid to rest.

It was a simple matter of asking Dougal and the niffler to work together. Newt showed his creatures a cufflink that had belonged to Percival and asked them to find the man. While they quietly disappeared from view on their hunt Newt got to work on his own task of finding, and hopefully helping the Obscurus.

They were a rarity, usually the result of a robot so broken down, discarded and abused that there was little left of them other than the core which blinked on and off as it stubbornly held onto life. Some robots gave in to their fate and powered down but some – and this was where opinions clashed because no robot could have feelings – but some seemed to foster their rage at the inequality until their very being was bundled into fury and became an entity in their own right. Newt didn’t know what to believe because he’d always been told that robots only feel what they’re programmed to.  He only felt love for Theseus and his creatures because of his subroutines, only felt sorrow when he failed because he’d been allowed to feel that. In his opinion Theseus had granted him all the upgrades possible to let him pass as a human and that was that.

It was the middle of the night while Newt was tinkering with the jaw mechanism of the nundu that Dougal returned. He looked frantic in his hopping about to get Newt moving. In his haste he’d managed to wake Tina who met Newt at the top of the stairs into his suitcase with a raised eyebrow.

“I believe we have a lead on finding Director Graves.” Newt said and moved to follow Dougal. There was a flurry of activity behind him as Tina threw on her coat and sent a message to MACUSA. As they walked down the street there were quiet pops of apparition as aurors, healers and even the President herself joined them. She didn’t say anything about the fact that a creature in the care of a robot was leading them but her sneer was easy enough to read.

The group found themselves in the underbelly of an unmarked warehouse on an industrial estate. A flick of a light switch made the bare bulbs overhead hum to life and gasps went up around the group. On the edge of the room lay a table with body parts that trailed wires, pooled red oil and coolant under the end of the arm. A leg was carelessly thrown under the desk in a mangle of joint pieces brutally torn from their sockets. In the middle of the room lay the unmoving form of Director Graves in a puddle of congealed liquids. Where his arm should have been was a metallic stump of broken framework, wires and tubes crudely stoppered off with rubber stoppers. His trouser leg was crumpled and empty where a limb should have been and it was also stained with fluids. Perhaps the worst of it was where the skin of his cheek had been peeled back to reveal a metallic skull, pistons that moved the jaw and a myriad of parts that most couldn’t even name. Nobody dared move closer to him.

Picquery stood rigid at the front of the group and stared down at what had once been her right hand man. She didn’t stop Newt when he approached the still figure and crouched next to it. The niffler popped up from behind the body and chittered.

“Thank you. You can turn him back on now.” Newt murmured softly to his creature. The next moment Graves’ whole body jerked as he gasped and stared around bewildered. He took in his own body with abject horror before he looked up at the people staring at him.

“Sera.” His voice crackled with static a little. “What’s this mad man done to me?” He tried to reach for his friend with his missing arm, the stump just below his elbow trailed wires. A few of the aurors and healers took a step back.

“Sera you came.” The relief in his voice turned to panic when the President didn’t reply. She merely looked at him coldly. “Please Sera, help me. I don’t know what he’s done to me.”

“Get it out of my sight. Scrap it at your earliest convenience.” She barked and turned without a backwards glance. Her step didn’t falter when Graves called after her, begging for her help.

The aurors set about picking up the limbs and bagging them along with tools which looked more like instruments of torture. None of them responded when Graves called for them by name, cried that he was still him, that he knew them and their families. Pleaded with them that he wasn’t a robot. Nobody spoke to him.

“I’ll take it from here.” Newt’s voice was quiet but firm as he stood up and eyed each auror in turn. “Please leave all components in a neat pile by the door, do not remove anything from the room.”

A shaking hand clutched at his trouser leg and Graves looked up at him with fearful eyes. Newt looked down at him and gave him the warmest smile he could muster.

“You look like you could do with a little more sleep. Niff, if you would please.” A few of the people in the room flinched when Graves fell limply back, his grasp on Newt’s leg was the last to release but even his hand fell down with a final thump.

“Tina, would you bring me my case please.” Newt asked pleasantly. Nobody dared go against them and one by one the aurors who had stayed left, not taking anything with them that they didn’t arrive with. By the time Tina had returned with his case Newt had sorted through some of the bagged parts and his coat was gently laid over Graves’ body so only his head was visible. If the skin around his eye and cheeks hadn’t been peeled back he could have been mistaken for sleeping. Tina opened up the case with a shy smile.

“I hope you don’t mind, I thought Queenie could help.” Her sister popped her head out of the case with a small smile which fell when her eyes landed on Graves.

“Oh the poor thing. Teenie told me what had happened. He didn’t take it well, did he.” It wasn’t so much of a question as an acknowledgement and Newt simply nodded. Together they took everything down into the case, leaving Graves last. Gently they lowered him onto the cot Newt had stashed in the corner of his shack and they stood back in silence.

“Perhaps you’d be kind enough to take us home?” Newt glanced at Tina. “Queenie could accompany you.” It was the kindest way he could hope to ask the sisters to leave his case without being rude. He was relieved when they turned to leave without a fuss. As soon as the case lid was shut behind them Newt sprang into action. He cleared his desk of everything and began lining up all the pieces they’d recovered. In a moment of clarity he also wrote Theseus a letter that explained everything and asked for his help. Somehow Newt very much doubted Theseus knew the true nature of Percival Graves but he didn’t think his brother would turn away his friend in a moment of need.

Newt lost track of time after that. He spent hours cleaning dirt out screw holes, welding broken framework pieces back to form a whole, repairing and reconnecting venting tubes and lubrication sacks. Between bouts of intense focus he’d step out of the room and tend to his creatures but even they seemed to understand that Newt was preoccupied with something important so mostly they let him be.

Once everything was cleaned, repaired or replaced to the best of his ability Newt turned to the body of Percival Graves. With great care he moved the body onto the freshly cleared table and set about trying to reattach limbs. The greatest challenge was that Graves was a much more advanced model than Newt had seen and he very much doubted that he was working with a commercial robot.

A knock on the lid of his case pulled Newt from his work where he was trying to wire the lower arm back into place before working on the coolant fluid ducts. The lid opened a sliver and a letter glided down into his grasp. It was from Theseus.

“Leave it with me brother. You do what you need to do, don’t let anyone near you or him. I’ll sort this.” Newt swallowed hard. He know the way Theseus tended to sort things, a mixture of careful threats, emotionally charged arguments which could get loud and passionate at the drop of a pin, and persistence - all of course carefully greased by cheques made out to the correct people. There was no imagining just what Theseus was up to. Still, it wasn’t like Newt could change his mind, even as a child Theseus was stubborn, sneaky and got what he wanted. They often joked that it was one of the few traits Newt had learnt from him. With nothing else to do, Newt heeded his brother’s words and stayed in his case, working away on Graves. Most of the damage he could repair but there were slivers of skin that stretched too thin over the framework and glinted in the light. Clothes would hide all of those, a shirt and some appropriate trousers but Newt worried about Graves’ cheek. Where the artificial skin had been peeled back it had dried out, curled and flaked at the edges. It hadn’t been a neat cut, Newt could make out where fingernails had torn into the fragile skin and pulled harshly. In some places the skin had lost its elasticity and thinned to a translucent warped covering. The worst of it was, Newt wasn’t even sure whether it was a self-inflicted wound or not. He patched it up the best he could, pulled the skin tight over the metal skull and tried to smooth it back into place however in patches it still looked wrinkly, translucent and almost old.

It was almost time to wake Graves up again when Theseus sauntered down the stairs after a brisk knock. He smiled tiredly at Newt and spared a glance at the repaired body of Graves on the table.

“Good work little brother.” He said, affection warm in his voice. A few sheets of paperwork were thrust towards Newt. “His papers.”

Newt took them and had a curious flick through. Graves - General Regulation Anti Violence Enforcement Servicer – was now property of Theseus Scamander.

“The bad news is that I’ll need you to stay put for a few months until I can rustle up the fees to get you tickets back home.” Theseus rubbed the back of his neck and looked up at Newt from under his fringe.

“Was he worth it? Raiding the family vault to the point of bankruptcy?” There was no judgement in Newt’s voice, mere curiosity.

“And the few blank favours to a couple of people too. I knew him through the war. He’s a good man.”

“Robot.” Newt corrected.

“You’re a good man too Newt.” Theseus replied softly.

“I am a robot too, don’t forget.” After a few beats of silence Theseus shrugged and nodded towards Graves.

“We should wake him up as soon as you’re ready.”

Everything was cleared away, Graves was moved back to the cot and Theseus stood back as he was reactivated. The change was instant, nothing like humans waking from a long sleep with slow blinks. One moment Graves was unnaturally still and the next he was heaving in a panicked breath and struggling to sit up. Newt helped him upright but kept a steadying hand on his shoulder as Graves took in his body. He flinched when he saw the silver scars below his elbow and a hand ghosted over his face with a wince.

“Hello Percival.” Theseus greeted and it made Graves jump. His eyes went wide with fear.

“Where am I?” Graves winced at his own voice, Newt hadn’t had a chance to repair it though he had managed to patch up the leaking coolant tube which had leaked dark bruises around Percival’s neck where he’d been strangled.

“You’re safe in my brother’s suitcase.” Theseus replied but it didn’t seem to help relax Graves. “Nobody can get to you here.”

“What am I?” The question was asked with dread, large watery brown eyes stared at Theseus.

“You’re Percival Graves, a great man, my friend, and a robot.” There was no point in mincing the words, no denying the reality of the situation so Theseus didn’t bother. He picked up the paperwork from the table where Newt had left them and handed them to Percival who looked at them not understanding. “It’s the best I could do for now. We’ll work something out when things have settled a little.”

Percival stared blankly at the papers, eyes unblinking until a tear threatened to spill over and blot the freshly dried ink. It was only Newt’s thumb gently brushing the tear away that saved it.

“I should have been turned in. All these years I spent hunting down rogue robots. And I was one of them.” The paper crumpled in his hands and once again it was Newt’s gentle easing of his fingers that saved them. He handed them silently back to Theseus. They watched the despair consume Percival, his fingers knotted tight in his hair as he gasped for breaths he didn’t actually need. Small pleas and denials dripped from his lips until his fingers sunk into the flesh of his face and Newt stepped forward. Percival slumped back unconscious.

“He would have done more damage to himself if he’d continued.” Newt shrugged.

In the end it took several attempts to wake Percival before he wasn’t so grief stricken that he physically hurt himself. There were questions, so many questions that he cried over. How he’d sacrificed his happiness for everyone else and nobody seemed to realise that he was a robot. How he’d mourned the loss of those he knew in battle, how he’d shared the joy of his colleagues in their successes. How he’d loved. And all along those weren’t really his own emotions, his own feelings but merely subroutines he’d been programmed to act out.

Truth was a bitter pill to swallow. Percival had been made to pass as close as possible to a human. And what better way to hide his true identity than by convincing him that he is in fact human. It had worked, nobody outside of his creators had known that Percival Graves was a robot, not even Picquery had known. Her status had prevented her from interacting with Percival even if she had wanted to; the President could not be seen favouring an unclaimed robot that had deceived her and MACUSA for decades.

Amidst all the chaos the hunt for the Obscurus was still on. Newt advised where he could and it came to fruition finally. The aurors had it trapped in a subway but their spells were ineffective against its rage. Someone had managed to identify it when it had manifested a form briefly as an abandoned service bot that lived in a commune where their papers were bought cheap and they were run into the ground. Nobody spoke out against the mistreatment of the robots in those conditions because a robot couldn’t feel pain or sorrow or fear. The unit was a Child Rearing Engine Designed for Extremely Needy Child’s Expectation – Credence, a babysitting bot which specialised in the care of children who needed more attention than a parent could supply. Rumours were rife about the kind of conditions his owner kept him in. Surrounded by orphaned children and robots alike, he was the oldest and also the one Mary Lou took her frustrations out on.

Newt had begged Theseus to help rescue Credence. The aurors weren’t trained in the keeping of an Obscurus and just containing it wasn’t going to solve anything.

“I’m already bent over the block with three dicks promising to fuck me over for Percy. I don’t know what you want me to do.” Theseus grumbled. Despite his misgivings though he began to put feelers out on how best to approach Picquery and request ownership of the Obscurus too.

It was one evening that Newt was puttering around in his case, Percival watched him from afar that things change a little. Until then Percival had kept to himself, refused all manner of help from Newt and everybody else. When Tina visited he slinked away quietly and let her and Newt chatter though he never went completely out of earshot. He wanted to know what his old department was up to. Though rather that updates on that he heard more gossip about Queenie and a man named Jacob who seemed to be a robot sympathiser. The night Tina giggled about leaving them at home for a date Percival’s heart cracked into two. Part of him wanted to go in wand held aloft to arrest Jacob for illegal relations with a service robot. Another, smaller part of him felt the kindling of hope that perhaps there might be someone out there for him who could overlook his unnatural state and forgive his origins. That was a thought he did his best to quash down at quickly as he could. A robot didn’t feel hope, a robot didn’t feel love. A robot was purely a machine to assist humanity in their progress for a better life. A robot also couldn’t cast magic but that wasn’t something Percival wanted to think about.

That night Percival watched as Newt tried to once again fix up the nundu’s jaw. The mechanism was so old that parts were difficult to come by and so the hinge caught at certain point. Percival didn’t see what had happened but the next thing he saw was the nundu’s head snap round and clamp down over Newt’s arm. Alarmed and surprised, Percival’s training kicked in. He rushed over, spells quick on his tongue as he repelled the mechanical beast, one spell loosened its jaw and another drove it from Newt. He hadn’t thought it through though and the nundu rounded on Percival with a snarl. Vicious metal teeth snapped inches from his face and the second pass would have bitten him in half were it not for Newt diving against him. He felt teeth scrape through the flesh of his arm but the jaws didn’t fasten around him. What Percival did feel though was the jerk of Newt’s body above his and something wet flooded over his leg.

“Stop it. You’re scaring her.” Newt’s voice was soft in his ear then he turned. “Nancy, that’s enough.”

Newt rolled off Percival haphazardly to glare at the nundu whose jaw had locked shut. They could see where the mechanism had caught and Percival sighed a quiet huff of relief. Until he saw Newt. His arm hand puncture marks that were oozing fluids but his trousers were soaked, one leg hung at a limp odd angle.

“I’ll be back to fix your jaw when you can be better behaved.” Newt chided as the nundu backed away with a whine. When he tried to get up he let out a small huff of annoyance and much to Percival’s horror began to drag himself one armed back towards his shack.

“Let me help.” Percival offered and picked Newt up before the other could protest. He marched them through the case and plopped Newt down onto the bed. “Tell me what you need.”

It was the first time Percival had seen Newt repair himself. He didn’t want to watch, the act seemed like such an intimate thing but Newt seemed unfazed. Casually he stripped down and detached the damaged leg from its socket. It was laid none too gently on the floor and Newt turned his attention to his arm. He worked in silence and Percival watched. First Newt sutured up the leaking pipes in his arm, then patched up the skin. It wasn’t a pretty job and Percival noted that there were many other similar scars along Newt’s body. Arm firmly repaired Newt turned to his leg. While working on it he hooked himself up to a bag of fluids which clipped into a port at the junction of his neck and shoulder. Percival tried not to shiver at the sight.

“Want me to check on your arm?” Newt asked as he set his lag aside. A glance at his clothes told him that where the nundu’s teeth had caught he had some fresh gashes. After a moment’s hesitation Percival nodded. Without a word Newt beckoned him to sit on the bed next to him and got to work. A small needle and thin thread pulled the cuts closed and hid the metallic parts that flashed through the bottom of the deeper gashes.

“You sound like you could do with some fluids as well. And maybe you’d let me clear out your voice box? I can’t imagine the garbled static is very comfortable.” Newt proffered another bag of fluids which Percival tentatively took. He looked at the port and tried to figure out where it would go. Newt saw his hesitation and took the bag.

“Roll up your sleeve. Your port in in the crook of your elbow – I saw it when I first repaired you.” Percival followed the instructions and watched with repulsion as Newt showed him where the skin peeled back and how to lock the tube into the port on his arm. He tried not to think about the bag which was slowly emptying into his arm. Truth be told, it did make him feel better. There was a certain refreshing effect it had, his joints felt less stiff and on the whole there wasn’t the tiredness weighing him down that he’d grown so used to. Perhaps letting Newt look at his throat wasn’t going to be a disaster either.

That’s how it became a roughly monthly occurrence, he and Newt in various states of repair sprawled on the bed and reading as fluids poured into them. Newt usually sat with his back against the wall while Percival sprawled on the rest of the bed. Those evenings were peaceful, gave Percival a chance to not think about anything and just be. Occasionally Newt would tinker with them, offer Percival Newt subroutines to try and even offered to take some away. Most of the time Percival would refuse but some he accepted. An increase in compassion and an appreciation for the looser interpretation of the law were ones that he allowed. The latter had been one that Newt was rather proud of, Theseus had told him it was a spontaneous mutation of Newt’s code that had arisen and was the perfect summary of everything Newt.

“I didn’t think robots could dream.” Percival mused one night.

“They don’t. What would they dream about?” Newt replied, head buried in his book.

“Past events, what ifs, hopes.” Percival replied.

“Sounds far too human to me.”

“It’s what I dream about.” Percival said and Newt looked up at that. He wasn’t surprised but there was curiosity in there.

“You dream? You shouldn’t be able to do that.”

“And neither of us should be able to use magic either.” Percival shot back.

“True. I don’t understand how we can, but we’re not the only ones.” Newt’s reply was quiet, hesitant.

“Queenie?” Percival asked. After a brief moment Newt nodded.

“And every other humanoid robot that I’ve met. But nobody ever talks about it. Fear of repercussion, fines for keepers, dismantling for robots. It’s the world’s best kept secret and I’ve thought about it long and hard. How else do you think Obscurials could come about?”

Understanding dawned on Percival’s face. It made sense, a tormented robot endowed with magic could spell itself the only type of freedom it could muster. Magic mixed with the robot’s conscious made for a potent and explosive mix.

“That’s why robots have been persecuted so much here. Fear of discovery.” Percival nodded to himself. “We’re getting Credence out, one way or another, aren’t we?”

Newt nodded with a sly smile. He’d been planning on ways to free the Obscurial for a while but to have Percival in on it made things seem so much more easier.

“You know, there’s another thing robots aren’t meant to be able to do.” Newt smiled softly at Percival. “Fall in love.”

“I will kindly disagree with that one.” Percival watched for Newt’s reaction. All he got was a shy smile.

“I think I’m beginning to agree with you on that one.” Their contented peace lasted until the bags were empty. As Newt was putting things away the lid of the case burst open and thundering footsteps echoed down the stairs.

“Newt!” Tina cried her face tear streaked. “You’ve got to help. It’s Queenie.”

Immediately Newt and Percival launched into action. They followed Tina who filled them in on what had happened. Queenie and Jacob had been on a date, things had been going so well until their walk in the park was ambushed by some fanatics. Somehow they’d caught wind of Jacob dating Queenie and they had some strong opinions about robot-human relationships they decided to beat into them.

The park was dark and as they approached where the incident had taken place they could hear Jacob’s low murmurs and the rhythmic clunk of a robot struggling to breathe. They rounded the corner where they saw Jacob, face smeared with blood, one eye swollen shut, cradling Queenie against his lap.

“Please help her.” Jacob begged. “I know repairs are illegal but I can’t lose her. I’ll give you anything you want.”

Newt knelt next to them. Queenie looked up at him with large eyes full of fear.

“I don’t want to die.” She rasped.

“And you won’t.” Newt reassured her. “We’ll just need to get you in my case and you’ll be right as rain soon.”

“I can deal with Jacob’s injuries while you sort out Queenie.” Percival said and let Tina help Newt get Queenie in his case. “Come on you.” He offered Jacob a hand up.

Repairing Queenie took a lot of time. The idiot who had the baseball bat had dented her skull and broke the spinal support. Those were pieces Newt struggled to find so while they waited for those pieces to arrive they talked.

“I can get you out of here. I know a place in England where the two of you could be very happy. Theseus will help too.” Newt offered. It caused a lot of debate, Tina wanted her sister to go, to be happy with Jacob but at the same time they didn’t want to lose each other. There was no happy medium it seemed.

The final straw came when Tina tried to press charges against the attackers. They were let off a telling off but as robots had no rights, they hadn’t done much wrong other than vandalism. She returned to Queenie’s bedside enraged that evening. Even her colleagues didn’t seem to see the problem with what had happened to Queenie, it was just another robot that was destined to be disassembled and recycled in their eyes. Tina raged about the unfairness of it all while Newt and Percival watched.

“You know, we could try to change things.” Newt offered quietly once Tina had exhausted herself.

“How? We’re powerless against the government, against the beliefs of society.”

“We can always offer a way out to robots. Like I offered Queenie and Jacob. We could probably make it work.”

“I’ll gladly help with that.” Percival piped up. He’d been quiet during most of their conversations, unsure of what he thought on the matters now that he was sitting on the robots’ side of the argument rather than human.

“You don’t have to.” Newt laid a hand on his arm and Tina looked between them with realisation.

“While I worked for MACUSA my job was to die for them. Now I’ll die for you.”

Their talks became more directed from then on, plans were hatched. Tina handed her notice in at MACUSA. Her forgery identification skills became useful as she learnt how to falsify documents. Queenie, repaired and functional once more became the receptionist. They set up shop just above Jacob’s bakery and any robot who wanted to start a new life was given the chance. Newt helped them repair any damage, offered advice on blending in, updated subroutines and programming for more freedom. Percival taught them self-defence, honed their magic if they so wished. Together, Newt and Percival travelled to visit Theseus often, Newt’s case home to fugitives with a newfound hope. They were always introduced to Theseus as friends but after the third such incident Theseus caught on. The Scamander estate became a halfway house for robots who wanted to live life as their own. Sometimes Percival and Newt would travel further afield to other countries and always returned with new creatures in Newt’s case.

Nobody dared say anything about the closeness between Percival and Newt. But then again, nobody could miss the way they moved around each other, the ease and familiarity which spoke of more than just living together. At times Tina or Queenie would walk in on the two of them quietly repairing each other, or sitting close. Their clothes would be a little rumpled; Percival’s hair would be messy from fingers running through them. Still, nobody mentioned it but the knowing glances were enough to get the two of them blushing at being caught.

It was one evening when Tina, Queenie and Jacob were in Newt’s case having dinner together that someone knocked on the lid’s case. Cautiously Newt went to answer, Percival close behind him. It was an MACUSA employee who stared down at them with cold hard eyes. Newt tried not to swallow hard in worry at having been found. However, instead of being hauled out of his case and arrested for smuggling the auror stepped to the side to reveal a spectral young man at the centre of wisps of smoke.

“By the order of the President this in now the property of Theseus Scamander and is to be kept in this case until he is able to retrieve it in person.” The employee passed Newt the paperwork and turned to leave. Newt smiled up at the Obscurial in front of him.

“Welcome home Credence.”

**Author's Note:**

> Still on tumblr - @ladyoftheshrimp


End file.
